mwarnick

I'm working on a story for a personal finance website about the supplemental insurance that comes with some credit cards, and I'm wondering if people have ever actually put it to work. If you have a story about using one of the following, I'd love to hear it: Trip cancellation insurance Lost luggage insurance Rental car insurance Travel emergency insurance Cell phone insurance Post here or drop me an email at melodywarnick at gmail dot com. And feel free to check out my website at www.melodywarnick.com, just so you know I'm, you know, a real human. Thanks so much! Melody

Right, but clearly some card issuers are using it as more of a security device than others. Oh--and there's the marketing thing too. Anyone else use a card without activating first? Or want to try it in the next couple days? Melody

Right, Breeze, that's what mine was -- simply the new card for an account I've had for years. Maybe the activation cancels out the existing card, since mine hasn't quite expired yet. And yes, I've definitely heard that the activation is more or less a sales pitch. Melody

This might be a huge long-shot, but I'm a reporter writing a story for CreditCards.com based on this tidbit of info: that you sometimes don't have to activate a new credit card to use it. A radio station in Portland tried it and charged small purchases at Starbucks, a beauty shop, etc., with no problem. So, I tried it myself this morning at Panera and was denied. Anyone have a new credit card they haven't activated and want to try this trick? Or have you done it before? I'd love to hear the results. Thanks, Melody melodywarnick at gmail dot com www.melodywarnick.com

I'm a writer working on an article for a personal finance website (not this one, alas) about dealing with your aging parents' credit card debt. If your parents racked up tons of cc debt after retirement (maybe because someone fell ill, or they had a resource shortfall, or whatever), I'd love to know how you handled it. Did you bring it up? Talk about it with them? Help them pay their bills? Negotiate with cc companies on their behalf? If any of you are working through this problem (or have in the past) with your parents, I'd love it if you dropped me an email at mw@melodywarnick.com. Thanks so much! Melody

Hi! I'm a writer working on a story for CreditCards.com on adding a consumer statement to your credit report. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you can add up to 250 words to your credit report to say, explain an error that refuses to die or justify a decision to close a credit card account -- things like that. If you've done this in the past five years or so, I'd love to hear about your experiences: why you did it, how you did it, what you said, and whether you think it was effective at all. If you can help, please email me at mw@melodywarnick.com. Then I'll shoot you a few questions by email or we can arrange a time to talk by phone. I really appreciate it. Thanks! Melody Warnick mw@melodywarnick.com www.melodywarnick.com